Aftermath
by Ecda
Summary: The team has trouble dealing with what happened to Hotch. Spoilers for episode 5.09.
1. Chapter 1

AFTERMATH

CHAPTER 1: Driving away from trouble.

When Morgan had assigned JJ to go along with Spencer Reid to do an interview with one of the victim´s families, she had been truly relieved. Meeting the family or friends of a victim was always a difficult and draining task but today JJ found that it was a relief. It was a relief to be away from the rest of the team and have only Spence at her side. Things had not been going well for the team. Hotch had just returned to the BAU after taking a leave of absence after Hayley´s death. Her heart wanted to break every time she thought about that horrible day, how they all heard Hayley´s last words to Hotch and how little Jack had lost his mom. It was hard to look at Hotch and not feel somewhat guilty, guilty for having her own family safe. She had really no idea how Hotch had managed to keep it together after his family had to go on the protection program, knowing that it could possibly be years without seeing them again. After that, all had ended so badly, Hotch had been devastated but thankfully he had Jack. She knew that in time Hotch would emerge from this tragedy for the sake of his son, she just hoped that they would still be a team to witness this. The team had changed after the tragedy and not for the better. Morgan was still acting Unit Chief and this placed a big weight on his shoulders. He was just not the same cheerful and smiling Derek Morgan that she used to know. There were no more smiles, no more bantering, he was always on edge, distant. But not only Morgan had changed, there was also Emily and Rossi. Now they were always at each other´s throats, glaring at each other, finding the smallest things to fight about. It was insane, before that day they had gotten along so well. Then there was Garcia, who had given up on trying to reach Morgan and any of the others for that matter, she just did her job but all her giddiness and cheerfulness was missing as if she was mourning the loss of her family. Suddenly, JJ heard a sight and turned to look at Spence. Spencer Reid had been quiet since he started driving, actually he had been quiet the last three weeks, too quiet. JJ decided to close her eyes and try to rest, they still had about 20 more minutes to reach their destination. She thought about Will and baby Henry and how she wanted to be back home with them but this did not make her relax, instead she thought about Hotch and once again felt the familiar guilty feeling.

Spencer Reid was driving and trying to decide if he should talk to JJ about what was bothering him, right now the only one he could approach would be her. The rest of them, once so close, now seemed so far away. When he turned to look at her and saw her eyes closed he could not open his mouth. She looked so tired, she needed the rest. He guessed they all needed that, rest. He was so tired too, not physically but mentally exhausted. He was having trouble dealing with what had happened three weeks ago, having seen Hotch loose all his self-control had been one of the most difficult experiences of all his life. Hotch was more than a boss for him, he was the person he looked up to, a mentor and a friend. Hotch had been there for him time and time again, he had never left him alone, always caring for him in a subtle way, never imposing but always caring. Now Spencer had seen Hotch at his weakest, dealing with a devastating pain and it had scared him. It had frighten him because he, Spencer Reid with an amazing IQ, could not figure out how to help the person that had always been there for him. He knew what it was like to be tortured as Henkel had done a good job with him but he knew that Hotch had been through much worse if that was even possible. Aaron Hotchner had slowly been stabbed nine times and then psychologically tortured for some months by a serial killer who finally killed the woman that he had loved for more than twenty years. Reid had complete confidence that Hotch could overcome this somehow but felt utterly useless in help ing him do so and that was what ate at him. It made him feel useless as he was letting his friend and therefore his team down. He needed to talk to someone but all of his team members had their own troubles to face as he had felt the great tension in the room when they were all together. Hotch, the one person he could always confide on was the one person he was afraid to really look at the eyes for fear that his mentor would find out what a failure Spencer Reid really was. Good, they were about to arrive, he was eager to put his mind to work in something he could really help with, the case.


	2. Chapter 2

AFTERMATH

Chapter 2: The probable unsub

Meanwhile, the rest of the team minus Garcia, where driving towards their prime suspect´s house. Their profile had indicated 44 year old Jim Wilson as the possible unsub. Wilson lived 40 minutes outside the town of Rutland, Vermont. Garcia had found out that he was divorced and earned his life as an art teacher at the local high school plus also did some art selling on the side. It seemed he sold his drawings of the flora and fauna of Vermont every two weeks at the town market. According to some, he was quite gifted and his drawings had a big touristic demand but people had not seen him selling his art for over two months now. This matched with the start of the murders. During the last two months, five men have been found shot to death in the vicinity of Rutland. The bodies had been found on the forest with a bullet on their back, no shoes or socks and all had been people who were not residents of the town. The investigation had show that the victims had been hunted.

Inside the SUV, the tense and quiet atmosphere was broken by David Rossi as he commented to the rest: " I think we are missing something .¨

" Come on Rossi, we have been working on the profile for the last two days almost none stop, Joshua Wilson matches to perfection", Emily Prentiss replied quite harshly.

"I agree", added Morgan "this guy fits the profile, we even know that the stressor probably was the notification that he will not be needed for school´s next term and his place will be taken by someone from out of the state".

"He does meet all the points of our profile but I must agree with Dave, there is something we are not seeing. From the selection of his victims, the different locations and the way in which they seem to have been hunted...the first kill was simple, while the last one was quite a complex hunt as if he was imparting a lesson"

"Hotch, maybe it is to show us he can do the hard work. He is narcissistic."

"Or maybe he wants to show it to someone else" added Hotch.

Right at this moment Morgan´s cellphone rang.

"Morgan¨

"Agent Morgan, this is Section Chief Strauss. I have been receiving some concerned phone calls regarding the case your team is working on. Since you have been there, two more deaths have taken place. Are you any closer to finding the individual who is doing this? Do you need extra help?

"No m'am, we've got all under control. We think we have found the unsub and are in our way to confirm it".

" I am glad to hear this, agent Morgan. I will like to have a detailed report on my desk as soon the case is closed. Please take note that I want to know how all the members of your team performed during this case, understood?"

Morgan tried to maintain his temper under control and answered an angry "understood" and flipped closed his cell.

Authors Note

Hi! I guess this story has not caught people´s interest because not one person has reviewed it :( I do not know if I should continue it....help me out!


	3. Chapter 3

**Pardon me for some foul language but I think this may help make this character more accurate. Sorry if I offend anyone, it is not my intention. Also remember that english is not**

**my native language so forgive my mistakes!**

CHAPTER 3: Acting Unit Chief Derek Morgan.

Damn that woman, thought Acting Unit Chief Derek Morgan as he closed his cell phone and

continued driving towards the suspect´s house. He was tired of all the shit that had happened

during the last couple of months. Everything had gone down the drain since that awful to God case

across the border. He shivered just remembering how horrible it had been and how he had felt so

useless. He had started to question his job, how even though they had caught so many serial killers,

more of them were always perpetrating mind blowing crimes each and every day. Was is worth it

working day in and day out catching the worst of this country´s criminals, when new ones would

appear almost immediately? Was it worth the sleepless nights, the traveling all over the place, the

lack of time to form lasting relationships from people outside his family and co-workers? All this

doubts had surfaced at facing what had been going one so long at a small farm just across the

border. All his training had not prepared him enough to face such a sight as the one they saw in

Canada, all those shoes belonging to so many victims, they were just fucking many. After that case,

going home had felt like a blessing but had turn into a nightmare, but not like the ones he was used

to, instead this had been an actual nightmare and he was not sure if the nightmare had ended yet.

Hotch had been stabbed nine times by none other than George Foyet, known as the Reaper. The

same George Foyet that had left a bullet beside him when he was knocked out by him, he could

have died that evening, but Foyet had let him live just to show him he had control. Foyet did not

have time to toy with him, to torture him, to feed from his fear and had left him a reminder of what

could have been. But Foyet had made sure he had enough time to spend with Aaron Hotchner, had

even used Morgan´s credentials to drop him at the hospital after he had stabbed Hotch nine times.

Nine times. Later they found out that those nine times had mimicked the wounds that Foyet had

inflicted on himself, the bastard. Once again in less than three days time, Derek Morgan had felt

useless. Seeing his long time boss and friend on that hospital bed had been so painful and at the

same time infuriating. He never had felt so much rage directed at someone, well maybe just once

before, many years ago.

Three weeks ago something even worse had happened and this time he really felt like he had

had a taste of hell. They had been so close at catching Foyet, so close and all had gone wrong.

Three weeks later he still had nightmares of that day, having to wait to make sure Foyet was on

that apartment, wasting time. A time that could have helped them find him quicker, maybe saved the

life of a US Marshall and the life of Haley Hotchner. Hearing their last conversation had been

heartbreaking, but seeing Hotch when they reached his home was a sight he would never forget.

The man had been in so much pain, when he had hugged Haley´s limp body and sobbed, it had been

too much. He had left the room and tried to stop the tears that kept coming, he had to be strong, he

was now the acting Chief Unit, he had to keep it together, it was his duty.

His duty, a duty that brought him to this moment in time. A duty that he had began to

hate with all his heart. He did not deserve or want this duty. Hotch was their leader, he should

had never felt the need to step down. God, how he despised Strauss and her little games of

politics, she did not have a clue of what this team was about but the worse part was that he was

sure she could care less. Morgan knew he had doubted Hotch as soon as he came back after his

attack, he was just so worried for him, he could not understand how he could have come back so

quickly until Rossi made him really think past his concern for his friend and understand Hotch´s

real and only motivation: protecting his family, both Jack and Haley and the team. Yes, always

protecting the team. Morgan had learned this when he accepted the job from Hotch. He learned

all the tedious things Hotch had to do regarding tons of paperwork, bureaucratic meetings that

lasted forever and accomplished little, reports that should have been done by the rest of the team,

besides his normal workload of evaluations and reports. He learned how Hotch had trusted them

and gave them autonomy, valued their opinions and always guided them. After he had done this

job for two weeks, he had gained a higher respect for his boss if that was even possible. Now all

he wanted was to return to his old job and hand Hotch his rightful position. Fuck Strauss one

more time. She had told him that Hotch would be on a supervised probation to see if he could

again function on the field, so Derek Morgan had to hand in an evaluation of Aaron Hotchner at the

end of this case, before any thought of returning his job to Hotch. Off couse, none of the team had

to know this, per orders of the witch. He felt like a traitor, kept feeling that he was letting all of

them down, he felt the looks that Rossi and Prentiss gave him, looks of disapproval. He felt Reid´s

confusion and JJ´s concern. And Penelope....well he kept his distance from her, afraid that he

would tell her what he was not allowed to tell. She had tried to reach him but every time she tried

he had turned her down. Then there was Hotch....he could not understand Hotch anymore. He was

so calm, so in control, as he had been before. There was no doubt there was a lot of pain behind his

eyes and he was sure he was not sleeping well, guess none of them were, that could clearly be seen

on all of their faces. Still there had been not animosity, no hint of blame for what had transpired

that day, no type of recrimination for taking such a long time reaching that apartment, for not

catching Foyet earlier, none. What Morgan had received was a warm hand shake as soon as Hotch

had entered the meeting room to start the briefing for this case. He had sat and given his

appreciations without trying to overtake the meeting, letting him lead just as he had done once he

handed him his job, no hurry at all to be in front of his team. That baffled Morgan. How could

the man sitting beside him at this moment seem so at ease with him leading the team if he

himself knew it was wrong. He would love to have his own team one day, but this was not the

time or place, he could wait, he just wanted things to be as they were but he knew for certain

that some things were not possible.

They were getting nearer. Good! Morgan thought, as soon as this case is over maybe some

things will return to the way they are meant to be.

**Authors Note:**

**I promise I will get to the others next chapter. I believe Morgan has to have a lot on his mind after **

**all that has happened. What do you think? **


	4. Chapter 4

**For the few of you that are following this story I apologize for taking so long to update but unplanned things happened and I could not write. I hope all of you had a nice ending to your year and wish you the best for this starting one! Any small review will be extremely welcomed!!!Peace!**

Chapter 4: Going in.

The SUV came to a sudden stop in front of an old, wooden, one floor house. The house was in a very bad shape, its paint was peeling, it had a broken window and what looked like once a probably nice garden was now an area

fullof weeds and discarded old useless junk. The four FBI agents got immediately out of their vehicle. They were all wearing their kevlar vests and had already their guns out of their holsters ready in case on any trouble awaiting

them.

"Hotch, you and Prentiss go on through the back and look for an entrance, Rossi and I will cover the front, do not go in until I give the signal, lets move" ordered a focused Derek Morgan.

Emily and Hotch made their way to the back of what appeared to be an abandoned house and took on their position to wait for the signal to go inside or maybe even wait for the possibility of their suspect´s escape. Emily, took

a small glance at Hotch. He was intensively watching the back door and waiting for any signal to go in. He looked like vintage Hotch, cool and collected. She felt secure around him and was glad to have him by her side. God, how

relieved she had been when he had decided to come back to the job. Emily could just not imagine the BAU without him, there was just now way. Hotch represented the BAU, to her he represented all that was fair and just,

honor,hard work, security, guidance, control. She had been so shaken when she had seen Hotch loose all his control and kill Foyet with his bare hands. She completely understood it and did not judge him. George Foyet was a

monster and had deserved to die, if only they could have helped Hotch through out this ordeal, but all the time they had been one step behind and that really made her angry. That and David Rossi. The man was completely

infuriating. She knew that both Rossi and Hotch had known each other for quite a long time but she did not agree with Rossi´s take of the situation that Hotch was facing right now and that was the source of their constant

bickering. Rossi felt Hotch needed space to work out his feelings on what had transpired that horrible day, Emily on the contrary thought that Hotch needed someone to talk to, someone to confide, someone to be close to him.

She had told Rossi that he had to make a move, to make Hotch talk about what had happened before Hotch buried all his feelings and emotions. She was certain that keeping things inside could destroy a person, she had gone

through that and it had almost destroyed her all those years ago if not for her friend Matthew. She did not want anything thing else happening to Hotch, she cared too much for him so that was why she just could not

understand Rossi´s reluctance. Hotch suddenly turned to look at her to see if she was ready, and she was, this was not the time to think about all this.

Meanwhile Morgan and Rossi were about to knock on Jim Wilson´s door.

"Hotch, are you in position?"

"Affirmative¨

¨Fine, let`s do this¨ said Morgan to his communication device as he knocked on the suspect´s front door.

¨Mr. Wilson, this is the FBI, open the door and come out with your hands on the air¨

Morgan repeated his action and his order but there was no sign of any movement inside the house so he instructed the rest of his team: " Ok, on the count of three we go in¨.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Reaching an understanding.

After some tense moments, the team cleared the small house, JamesWilson was no where in sight.

"Guys, I checked the garage, his truck is there and it has been recently driven because his hood is still warm" immediately informed Prentiss.

" That means he is probably out hunting, his house does not have a good view of the road, he would not have had enough time to see us coming and get out without us noticing him" added Rossi.

"Okay, this is what we will do. Rossi and Prentiss, you will stay here in case he comes back, meanwhile search the place and see what you come up with...oh and call Garcia to see if she´s had any luck finding his ex-wife. Hotch and I will search the woods."

Emily and Daved looked at each other and then at Hotch. He frowed at them but did not say a word. Rossi knew that Hotch was not comfortable with Morgan´s plan but was not going to doubt his superior. Heck, Rossi himself was not in agreement with it, it was just too risky going into the woods. He was just going to comment on it when Emily beat him to it.

" Morgan, don´t you think we should wait for backup to search the woods, after all we do not know the surroundings, he could be waiting for us to do just that".

"Or maybe he is running and you well know that if he knows we are on to him and escapes, he will just pop up a few months somewhere else an continue with his killings, I want to finish this as soon as possible. Come on Hotch, lets get a move!" order Morgan and went outside the house and towards the dense forest with Hotch behind him.

As soon as both men when out the door, Emily Prentiss exploded. "Dammit Rossi, you could have helped me, you could have said know this does not feel right. They could be walking to a trap, you could see Hotch was uncomfortable with the idea. Why did you not say anything?"

¨Calm down Emily. You know Morgan would have shot me down just as he did to you, the only one that he would have listened would have been Hotch. I am starting to think he even wanted Hotch to disagree with him, for Hotch to take charge somehow.¨

"Well that did not happen did it! I am sick of this, I told you a thousand times you should have spoken to Hotch. He seems okay but I am sure underneath it all he is not. Old Hotch would have called Morgan on this impetuous decision. What are we going to do?" asked a suddenly unsure Emily Prentiss.

" Okay calm down kid. We cannot keep fighting with each other. I know you are concerned about Aaron but fighting between us is not going to help him or the team. I have known Aaron Hotchner for quite a long time and let me tell you, he has tons of qualities but he is as stubborn as they get. If he needs to confide in me or someone else is not the question. The question is when. And with Aaron the "when¨is as soon as he is ready, you well know you cannot push Hotch to do anything he does not want to do, it simply will not accomplish anything. Now I will quickly do a sweep of this place while you get in touch with Garcia and then we will catch up to them.¨

" Yes, guess you are right, sorry it is just that..."

" No problem kid, I know exactly how you feel, lets get to it!" answered Rossi, looking straight at Emily and for the first time in the last couple of days, a look of understanding and companionship was renewed.

Emily speed dialed Garcia and suddenly frowned, damn there was not signal. She tried again this time with Reid which she knew was nearer and the same thing happened. There was no signal. She turned around to look for Rossi when he suddenly appeared in front of her with a face full of concern.

" Dave there is no signal, I can´t get hold of anybody. It seems the mountains cause some kind of interference."

"Try the phone, we need backup right now. I just searched the rooms, there is two of everything."

"Two of everything, what do you mean...shit, Hotch was right. He is showing his skills to someone else, there are two of them!"

**I am not completely happy with this chapter but I must as well post it because if not it will take a long time again in between posts. Hope you do not dislike it too much :). Peace!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Hotch´s thoughts.

As they got deeper and deeper in the woods, Hotch got surer about his reasoning back at the SUV. At the last victim site, things had been a tad different as if James Wilson was trying to show something to them or maybe to

someone else. His job was being a teacher, Hotch had a hunch that he was actually teaching someone how to do his killings. That meant that probably he had a young disciple and therefore he was not alone out here in the

woods. He was certain going on a search like this was not the right approach but he did not want Morgan to feel anything but total support from him, after all he had already let him down big time. He had already let down all of

them by loosing control, by showing how weak he could be. That was not going to happen again anytime soon. He had felt such a relief coming back to the team even if he knew that all of them were keeping and eye on him,

especially Strauss. He was so sure that she was pushing Morgan for dirt on him, he was sure Strauss wanted him out of the BAU for good. Well, that was not going to happen anytime soon, he had decided to come back and try to

be part of the team once again, even if it was on a different position. He knew things were strained right now, he could feel the tension on the room when they were all together. The change that had occurred within the team

thanks to his failure in catching George Foyet was hurting them and therefore him. The team was, along with Jack, his only family left and he was going to fight hard to get his family alright again.

As soon as he had come back to work he had noticed the transformation. It was so hard to listen to Penelope be so sad, she was still 100% efficient on her job but there was no happiness on her voice, no silly remarks, no funny

comments, no light banter between her and Derek, she was just like one of her computers, cold. He would have never thought that possible, how had he single handedly accomplish this he did not know but he was going to try

his very best to revert this.

He would have thought that if someone from the team would have understood what he went through and forgive him was Jennifer Jureau. He had always felt a special kind of bond with the young media liaison, as soon as she

was assigned to the BAU they got along fine, he had always trusted her instincts and she had confided on him on more than one occasion. After she had Henry, he had felt their bond grow stronger because they were the only

ones in the team to have children and therefore know how tough this job was on them. JJ´s alteration on her behavior had been more subtle, on first appearance she looked an acted the same as she always had with everyone of

the team but if you looked closer you could see that she avoided spending any nonworking time with them, no small talk or drinking coffee, not even mention of Henry´s latest achievements. Mostly, JJ was avoiding him and

Hotch supposed it was because she was ashamed of him, of him not looking out for his family, for inability to save Hailey.

Hotch felt that he had specially let down Spencer Reid. After Gideon had suddenly and without any type of notice left the team, Hotch had taken the young agent under his wing and tried to help him in any way that he could. He

had failed Reid, he was supposed to be an example for the kid, Reid had even gotten shot because he had not have any kind of backup when Emily had left him alone to go look for him to his apartment. When talking to him, Reid

would not even want to look Hotch in the eyes. Hotch was a bit afraid of the disappointment he would see the moment Reid decided to face him.

Rossi and Prentiss were hard to decipher, as always. His old friend had been quite distant and that puzzled Hotch. Rossi had always been the guy in your face, always giving his advise without being asked for it, always meddling on

Hotch´s business. Not anymore. Now he was nowhere around, no friendly advise, no kick in the butt, just absent. If there was something worse than rejection it was simple indifference. After so many years of knowing Dave this

new indifferent treatment was especially painful. On the other hand he could not understand Emily. At the beginning he had not trusted the new agent but things had totally turned around when she had quit the BAU before

giving in to Strauss´power games. Their relationship had grown over the years and he was surprised that after his attack she was the one that had been more present, the one that had stood by him every step of the way. The

one that had brought him the most hope and tried to instill in him a sense of peace. After Hailey´s death she had still been by his side, only this time he could feel her tension, her anger and rage. Those feelings he knew too well.

He still had them himself although they were slowly disappearing but he was worried about what they could do to her. Emily had such a good soul, always taking care of everyone else, always lending a hand, throwing a witty

comment, making a funny face. Emily Prentiss was a special woman full of love and courage but now she was not displaying all those noble traits that she owned, now what anyone that cared to look saw was anger. She kept

lashing at Dave and once in a while at Morgan too. She constantly looked at him but strangely enough he could not detect anger on her look but the total opposite. What he saw he could not understand or explain but what he

was sure of was that he did not deserve any bit of it.

Finally there was Derek Morgan, who as the others, had changed a lot too and definitely not for the better. Derek looked worried all the time, he did not smile at all anymore. Long gone was the banter he once held with Garcia or

Emily. There was no more teasing of Reid. Derek Morgan was all business, he was short tempered and bossy. He no longer related with the others, you could see that he was under a lot of stress but most of all you could see that

he was not happy where he was. When Hotch really looked at Morgan he wondered if being back on the team had been a bad mistake. Maybe it rattled Morgan to have him back, knowing that he had fucked up so badly. He knew

that Morgan still cared about him, that much he could read still read on his eyes but what he was not sure was if Morgan could still trust Hotch after all what had transpired.

God, if only things could get better! He knew things would never be back as they were, they all had been in different ways scarred by Foyet but Aaron Hotchner´s biggest fear was if he would be able to once again regain the team

´s trust and respect after what had happened that awful day, would the team return to being a family, his family?

**Author´s note:**

**This chapter as the title describes are Hotch´s thoughts. Keep in mind that he just went through something really awful and just came back to work. I think that after what he and the rest of the team went through (all those months since they first encountered Foyet and how it all endend so badly)their team dynamics would have suffered some kind of change but in the show they did not really address this. After Hotch decided to come back, it was business as usual so that was my main reason to write this story.**

**BTW, thanks to all of you that have reviewed, especially to Luvliacd! To SedatedSadism I hope you like this chapter, you wanted to know what Hotch thought! Peace!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: End of the silence.

David Rossi and Emily Prentiss quickly left the small house of the suspect and entered the densely covered forest in search of their two colleagues. Morgan and Hotch could be very well walking into a trap and there was no way to warn them, so they had to find them as soon as possible. Rossi knew that Morgan was feeling pressured by Strauss to solve this case quickly and that by itself could cause a lack of concentration on the young man, but mainly Derek was just placing too much pressure on himself and that could be dangerous. Any other day, Rossi would have felt less worried as Hotch was going along with Morgan but he was not sure Aaron was 100% back. Maybe Prentiss was right after all, he should have spoken directly to Hotch and not wait for the stubborn man to come to him....funny, it seemed he was even more stubborn than Aaron Hotchner. He should have listened to Emily, as soon as this was over he was going to have a long overdue conversation with Hotch. Just as he was reaching this decision a shot was heard at the distance. He turned to look at Emily and before they could utter a single word, two consecutive shots were heard and then two more and finally there was silence.

"Dammit Dave, those shots came from this way" pointed Emily.

"Let´s hurry, but Emily, be careful, we do not know what we are going to find" answered a rushing Rossi.

Emily followed him and was amazed at how quickly Rossi was moving through the woods without making a sound, guess that came thanks to all the practice he got when he traveled to his cabin and went to hunt geese. Geese or was it ducks? Interesting how her mind worked, here she was following Dave and thinking about what type of game he hunted on his spare time instead of wondering...no she could not go there, both Morgan and Hotch had to be okay. They all had recently gone through too much, they just had to be fine. Everything was going to be just fine. Emily Prentiss kept repeating this phrase on her mind but her heart felt like it was just about to break in a million tiny pieces.

Meanwhile back at the BAU, Penelope Garcia had finally found James Wilson´s ex-wife. It seemed Allison Wilson was now Allison Leonard, a housewife who lived in St. Louis with his husband and three kids: Joshua 17, Carrie 13 and Thomas 9 years old. All of them had Leonard as their last name but as Garcia looked at the photographs of the small family she was shocked to notice the similarity between James Wilson and the young Joshua Leonard. There was no denying it, Joshua Leonard had to be James Wilson´s son. Penelope had a bad feeling and after making some phone calls she was able to confirm that Joshua Leonard has left his High School in St. Louis and had not been seen during the last couple of months. Mrs. Leonard confirmed that he had a big fight at home and had left without saying were he was going. When asked about his ex-husband, she had said that it had been more than 18 years ago since the last time she had seen him. She had to make the team aware of her findings but after trying to call Morgan and then Hotch´s cells she decided to call JJ as she knew they were interviewing the family of one of the victims.

JJ and Reid had just started they way back after doing their interview when Garcia had called them and told them all that she had found out from the ex-Mrs. Wilson.

¨Thanks Garcia, this helps a lot. Did you try calling all of them? Maybe they splitted up and one of them gets reception.¨

" I will do that JJ but it seems that area is well known for its communication problems. Do you think they are all right?" suddenly a small doubt entered Garcia´s mind.

" I am sure they are fine but if you do not make contact with them in the next five minutes then maybe you can send some uniforms and and ambulance just in case. Reid and I are on our way, we will be there in about 20minutes¨.

" I just hope Morgan does´t get upset by us doing this JJ, you know how he has been lately, he will think we doubt him" confided Penelope in a worried voice.

" Don´t you worry about it, I can deal with Derek. I will call you as soon as I we get there, and Garcia, don´t worry they will be okay" said JJ as she ended the conversation.

Reid heard what had been said and looked at JJ. She was frowning, he started driving faster. JJ looked at him with surprise showing on her face.

Reid smiled tightly: " I´ll get us there in 15, listen to yourself, they will be fine and probably Morgan is going to be mad as hell with all the attention.¨

"You are right, it is just that we can´t leave them alone as we ….¨and she stopped herself and looked down at her hands.

¨...as we did with Hotch. That is what you were going to say, wasn´t it?

" I guess, how do you know?" a suddenly soft spoked JJ answered.

" I guess we all have been trying to deal on our own with similar feelings of failure and guilt, isn´t it right?"

JJ looked at Spencer Reid and a real smile came to her beautiful face and her eyes lighted up as she replied: "Looks like none of us has been too successful at it, maybe we have gone about it the wrong way.¨

Reid nodded, "yes, the silence needs to end." JJ agreed as both of them felt better than they had in a long time.

**Authors note:**

**Hi! Any ideas are welcomed and reviews are cherished! It has been hard to write because these past few days have been so sunny and beautiful, I just have to be out! Have a nice day, peace!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Lucky Break.

The sight that had greeted David Rossi and Emily Prentiss was one that brought the profilers a huge amount of relief. They had quickly arrived at the site from where they heard the shooting and carefully advanced with their

weapons drawn when they were able to locate Hotch and Morgan, who both looked unharmed from afar. Finally they had caught a lucky break, or at least that it what it seemed.

Emily´s heart was beating so hard that she was sure Rossi could hear it but maybe his was beating the same way. Damn, she had been scared of what they were about to find out but luckily both their teammates were standing

near a body. As she got nearer she could see that Morgan was frowning and looking quite upset. Hotch was standing in front of him but she could not make out his expression as he had his back to her. Suddenly she had a bad

feeling, something was not right.

As they got nearer, Rossi asked: "Are you both OK?

¨We are just fine, Dave. But...."

"Dammit, Hotch! You are not fine, you are bleeding!" added Morgan with a worried look at Emily.

"I can´t get any type of signal, is your cell working?"

As Rossi got beside Hotch, he was able to see that the younger agent had blood on his right shoulder. "Aaron, please sit down and let me take a look at you."

"Dave it is just a graze, I´m telling you I´m fine. There is another body beyond those trees, we should call...."

"This area has no cell coverage" answered Emily looking at Morgan. "Now Hotch, please sit down and let Rossi take a look at your shoulder, I am worried, it is bleeding too much..."

"Yeah, man. You are looking way too pale. Listen to them and quit being so stubborn!" said Morgan in a sheepish tone.

Rossi saw Hotch sway a bit and quickly grabbed his left elbow and gently guided him to a nearby rock and waited for the injured man to sit down. At the same time, Emily was trying to get Hotch out of his suit to take a better look

at his wound.

"Derek, we need something to stop the bleeding, it looks like Hotch is right. The bullet went through but it is still a nasty looking wound,¨informed a worried Emily.

As Morgan was about to take off his shirt and offer it to Emily, they heard people approaching from the same direction they all had come through. As they got closer they were able to see that Reid and JJ were leading some

policemen and what looked like EMT´s towards them.

"Hey, guys! Over here! We need some medical attention!" waved Morgan as both Emily and Rossi relaxed a bit, knowing that soon Hotch was going to be taken care off.

Soon the EMT´s were finishing wrapping up Hotch and giving him a mild sedative for the pain, even though he argued against it. Aaron Hotchner insisted on being able to walk unaided back towards the cabin so all of them, except

Reid, returned with him and the EMT´s.

As Hotch was getting inside the ambulance, he could feel the worried look of all his colleagues on him. He suddenly turned around and looking straight at all of them he said:

"I am so sorry I let you all down again!¨and just as abruptly he turned and got inside the ambulance without taking another look back.

As the back door of the ambulance closed and the vehicle went on its way to the hospital, the rest of the team stood there bewildered until Emily whispered:

"What the hell was he talking about?¨

"I don´t know what he meant, but if not for him I would be dead right now, he just saved my life. If anyone let anyone down it was me!" confessed a guilty looking Derek Morgan.

**Note from the author:**

**Sorry about the late update but I got stuck...I know this is short but I will try to do better next chapter. I am still having problems sitting down to write: kids are on holidays, days are just beautiful and at night I must watch the Australian Open cause I do love tennis!**

**Please review and special thanks to angrypenguin for being such a great reviewer!!**


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